A rendering shows what TraVure will look like when completed from the sidewalk on Poplar Avenue. The Germantown Planning Commission reviewed a retail and office building for the northwestern portion of the property. (Courtesy City of Germantown)

Germantown’s Planning Commission endorsed plans for the final phase of a mixed-use development Tuesday night.

The decision on the application was simply a recommendation by the commission. It still needs to go before the Design Review Commission and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen before work can begin.

Gill Properties presented a third rendition to round out TraVure, a mixed-use development on Poplar Avenue east of Kirby Parkway. It’s situated between Nottoway and The Garden District Apartments, formerly Westminster Townhomes.

Plans for the northern 2 acres have been approved twice. In 2018, plans included a two-story office building, but with COVID-19, people transitioned to remote work. In 2022, a different iteration submitted to Germantown had three stories with retail on the ground floor and two stories of offices.

The plan reviewed Tuesday included 35,000 square feet with retail on the ground floor and office above. The idea has some inspiration from another Gill Properties project —White Oak on White Station Road in East Memphis. The strip of stores north of Poplar includes Rotolo’s Craft & Crust, Nothing Bundt Cakes and a women’s health clinic.

“We said, ‘You know, we ought to replicate the White Station success for retail here,’ ” Ray Gill, president of Gill Properties, said previously.

In the previous version, it was hard to attract retailers because they wanted parking near the storefront, said Brown Gill, Gill Properties vice president of development. Employees will be required to park in the existing garage. The building is further south than it was in previous proposals.

Brown Gill believes this is the plan that will move forward and is the best use of the site

“Our retail tenants here that are of high quality and great operators, they want parking at the front door,” he said after the approval. “We’ve been in the retail business 40 years. ... That’s how we develop most of our retail, because I think women feel safer when you can drive up to the front door, you can see through the front door and see people are inside. It’s around people being comfortable and women feeling safe in our city.”

Alderman Tony Salvaggio said the new building will become “a destination location.”

“It’s been a dirt mound for several years now. … I think there’s a better use for the property,” said Greg Marcom, former alderman, whose office is across the street from the site.

Plans for the southern portion of the building are designed in such a way that a restaurant user might take the space.

A proposed retaining wall closer to Poplar will shield parking from the roadway. The proposed landscaping will be reviewed by the Design Review Commission.